Cash registers with sliding cash drawers have been well known for many years. More recently separate cash drawer units with sliding cash drawers or with flip top lids which reveal the cash drawer, for use with associated EPOS units have become increasingly widespread.
Cash drawers incorporating weighing modules are also known, for example, Tellermate Limited sell such cash drawers under the trade mark T-ICE. These drawers include a series of coin cups to receive different denominations of coins, together with vertically oriented note cups, to receive different denominations of notes. These vertically oriented note cups are considered suitable for countries where notes are easily distinguished without seeing their faces, for example by virtue of being different sizes and/or different colours. Vertical storage for notes is generally preferred because it can obviate the need for note clips and can take less space in the X and Y axes, allowing for narrow and/or less deep (front to back) drawers, sometimes at the expense of height (Z-axis).
Such an arrangement is, however, not considered suitable for other countries, such as USA, where notes of different denominations are the same size and colour, because it is too difficult to distinguish which notes should go in which of the different note cups without seeing the faces of the notes stored therein.
Typically in USA banknotes are arranged in a tray having five prone note cups each having its long axis extending front to back and having a clip to retain the notes therein. Coins are stored in 5 coin cups, one in front of each note cup. There are currently seven denominations of banknote in production and five denominations of coin. Consequently, whilst there is space for each coin to be stored separately, there is not space for each note. Accordingly, the most frequently used, and less valuable notes $1, $5, $10, $20 are generally stored in the cups in the tray and the more valuable, less frequently used notes ($100) are stored underneath the tray. $2 notes are so rare that provision is not normally made for them—if encountered, they can be stored with the $1 notes (or refused).
Such an arrangement cannot work with a cash drawer having a weighing module therein, because each cup is separate and fixedly attached to a load cell beneath it in order to ensure accurate weighing. In any case, for accurate weighing (and hence accurate determination of the value of currency stored in the drawer) it is necessary for each denomination of note to be stored in a respective cup.
This fixed attachment of each cup to its associated load cell has another disadvantage, in that, especially in a sliding drawer, the cups can be deliberately or inadvertently pulled by operators and this can damage the load cells leading to incorrect results or even the necessity to repair the drawer.
An object of the present technology is to provide an improved cash drawer.